


Monsters

by rosesisupposes



Series: Prompts for My Imaginary Sons [Sanders Sides Prompt Fills] [13]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Siblings, Background Relationships, Backround Remceit, Bad Parenting, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pizza, Platonic Relationships, Siblings, Strained Relationships, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, bonding over pizza, this is how we fix our childhood trauma right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 07:46:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19080604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesisupposes/pseuds/rosesisupposes
Summary: Three pairs of brothers. Three sets of complete opposites.Virgil is quite certain he'll never be friends with his brother Roman, and he's accepted this.





	Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from BlinksInBewilderment on tumblr: "they're monsters" with brotherly prinxiety
> 
> Ages:  
> Deceit is 19, Remy is 18, Virge is 17, Roman and Logan are 16; Patton is 15

They never would have all met if it hadn’t been for their parents all moving into the same little cul-de-sac. One quiet street, out of the way of the major roads. Two children per family. Three pairs of siblings who were dichotomous in almost every way.

The first were Remy and Logan. The elder shrugged off concerns like water - other people’s concerns, that is, not his own. He had very few of his own. He slept in late and stayed up later, but managed to scrape together enough money from odd jobs for a motorcycle that he maintained with pride. When their parents complained about the noise or the mess, he’d just give them a look over his glasses and say, “I’ll handle it.”

Logan, the younger of that family, was never going to be allowed to be similarly lax. Their parents never said the words, but the current was there, under every encouragement to focus on his classes and to “make something of yourself.”  _Unlike your brother._ Logan had already been inclined towards regimentation, towards strict study schedules and perfectly-arranged binders. But even still, he loved his brother with as much intensity as he failed to understand him, and struggled for the words to tell Mum and Dad. Remy spent more and more hours out of the house, especially once he hit 18. Logan, only two years younger, was frequently assumed to be the elder as he held in his (to him) incomprehensible frustrations and wore ties as a high-schooler.

Remy found friends and kindred spirits in his neighbors. Dee, who refused to use either his full name or the dreaded “Junior.” Dee who was his own person, not just the copy of the father who’d left them. Dee, whose facial scars held a story locked behind a sneer and sarcasm. Only a year older than Rem and even more independent from his mom. Remy asked once why he hadn’t moved out yet. Dee went silent, and finally said a single word in reply: “Patty.”

Four years his junior, Patton also appeared to be an opposite of his brother. Where Dee had gone closed off and secretive, Patton was open and emotive. He scattered affection wherever he went, to almost everyone he met. To Dee’s smirk, Pat had a smile. A perpetual smile. An unflinching smile. Only 15 and trying to take care of everyone - his friends, his classmates, the stray cats he was allergic to, even his mother. Which is why Dee stayed, no matter what. No kid should have to take care of his parent, no sweet boy should have to swallow his own feelings to try to make his mom less volatile. So Dee worked as a bar back, as a waiter, as anything that would hire him as he saved and saved to get them both out.

Pat didn’t want to know, didn’t want to think about the implications of their family. So he didn’t know. He just knew his best friends, the boys who lived on either side of his house and who were only a year older. Lolo, who needed someone to make him laugh (even when he pretended not to). And Roro, who needed company.

Roman loved performing for his friends and the audience for the drama club. He was a great student when he could get himself to focus, but thrived on hands-on work and presentations, not long lectures or silent exams. His legs jiggled and bounced through classes as he tried to pay attention, all too frequently getting a talking-to from teachers who saw only that he sometimes succeeded, proof, of course, that his failure to do so consistently was just ‘laziness.’ But he took all too much after his parents, pure extroverts whose jobs brought them out of the house night after night. Leaving the house echoing and empty except for his older brother, Virgil.

Virgil was only a year older, but he might as well been from another planet. He was the lone introvert in the family, unable to mingle easily for hours as his family did. Unable to show affection in his preferred ways (a favorite snack, a small gift) and have his family understand it. And so he retreated more and more into himself, seeing himself as the odd one out, the one who didn’t belong. Not like Roman, their parents’ little prince.

Virgil had met the other older brothers on the cul-de-sac by chance as he’d stopped to admire Remy’s motorcycle. Remy, emerging from the garage, didn’t give him time to flee in shame before striking up a conversation and bragging about the repairs and enhancements he’d made. Dee had shown up the minute he was out of school, taken one look at Virgil’s dark clothes and messy eyeliner, and had immediately accepted the slightly-younger boy as part of the group.

The groups moved in parallel, never touching, just rotating from school to house, and the occasional jaunt to town if the licensed among them could be cajoled. Three older brothers and three younger looked across and saw an insurmountable gap. Three sets of siblings looked over and thought, “He’ll never understand me.”

It was a balance, of sorts. Until the scales shifted one day, as Virgil came home from school. He walked past Remy’s garage to see the bike outside, by itself, and the door mostly closed. He frowned, knowing how protective Rem was of his ‘baby.’ Pushing through the door, he immediately blanched and jumped back outside. Rem and Dee were inside, furiously making out against the garage wall.

“Oh fuck, was that Vee?” Rem’s voice asked

“Yeah, think so.”

“Sorry, Vee!”

“No you’re not,” Dee said, and Virgil could  _hear_ the smirk.

“No, I’m not,” Remy agreed.

“S’alright,” Virgil said through the door. “Not like this is a surprise.”

“…really?” Dee asked.

“I’m rolling my eyes at you,” Virgil told his friend, still not looking. “It’s been painfully obvious to everyone but you.  _Patton_ knew, and asked me about it, two months ago.”

“Oh,” Remy said softly. “I didn’t even know that long ago, not consciously at least.”

Virgil heard a muffled gasp that was definitely another kiss and straightened. “I’m gonna just go. You two have fun or whatever. Use protection.”

He trudged home, fighting the lump in his stomach. Of course he was happy for his two best friends. They deserved to be happy, and they’d been making googly eyes behind each other’s backs for months. He was happy they had each other, and knew they deserved privacy while it was so new. He’d be fine on his own. That’s what being an introvert meant, right?

Except that as he walked into his house, he realized the trio of younger brothers had picked this house as their hangout of choice today. Chatter echoed around the corner from the living room, punctuated with laughter. Virgil suddenly felt even more alone than he had walking over. He tried to make it to the stairs without being noticed, but apparently the snacks ran out at that very moment. Patton came around the corner, head turned as he grinned at his unseen friends around the corner. Turning, he suddenly caught sight of Virgil and stopped.

“Oh! I didn’t know you were home! Are we intruding?”

“Uh, nah, I just got here. ‘s fine, I’ll just be upstairs…”

“No, please, you should join us! I’m sure Ro and Lo won’t mind!” Patton said brightly.

“I don’t think…” Virgil started, but Patton had already grabbed his arm and started tugging him towards the living room.

“Look who I found!” he announced.

Logan was sitting sensibly on the couch, while Roman sprawled on the floor, surrounded by cardboard and fabric that was being coming into life as a posh umbrella, a prop for an upcoming play. Both young men looked up as Patton entered. Logan’s face was impassive, but Roman’s showed clear confusion.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, curious with an edge of defensiveness.

“Just home early,” Virgil said, not making eye contact. “I was just gonna go upstairs-”

“No, then you’d be alone! We can’t let that happen!” Patton insisted.

“Why not?” Roman and Virgil asked in unison. Virgil looked over to see his brother looking away from Patton’s frown, his chin raised in defiance.

“Patton, I appreciate it, but you don’t have to include me just because I’m friends with your brother. Y’all just hang out, I’ll leave you to it.”

Roman seemed ready to let him leave, but then sighed and deflated. “No, you should stay. We were just about to order pizza. Mom and Dad texted that it’s a silent auction night. There’s no other food.”

“I can order something on my own-” Virgil offered.

“It’s fine,” Roman said, cutting him off. “We can save the drivers a trip from town.”

“That’s very sensible,” Logan said with approval. “We’ll be sure to tip well, regardless.”

“Oh, good,” Virgil said, perching on the top of the couch. “They deserve it, living in this capitalist hellscape.”

Logan’s eyes alit. “I was just reading a comparison piece on tipping culture of the US versus other similar countries, it was fascinating…”

The two went off on matching rants, leaving Patton and Roman on the floor to continue assembling props. “Why didn’t you want him to stay?” Patton murmured quietly, when he was sure the other two wouldn’t hear.

“We don’t- we don’t do things together,” Roman said, tweaking a bit of lace back and forth until it was just so. “He hates the whole family, he avoids us constantly. If he wasn’t talking to our resident nerd, I’m sure he’d resent being dragged in.”

“But aren’t your parents gone, like, all the time?” Patton asked, arranging fabric around a parasol handle. He wasn’t quite as precise as Roman, but his eye for color was perfect.

“Yeah. Just shows that he’s avoiding me. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna move out the minute he turns 18.”

“I thought that about Dee, and he didn’t!” Patton pointed out with a bright smile.

“…wasn’t there a reason for that, Patty?” Roman said very quietly.

Patton’s smile wavered.  “I wonder why Virgil isn’t with him and Remy today,” he said instead of answering.

Virgil heard the last part of that sentence. “They’re uh. Busy today.”

“Busy?” Logan asked. To his surprise, Virgil’s dark cheeks turned the slightest bit pinker.

“Uh, yeah. They were… going to a thing together. 18 plus only.”

“That sounds fun,” Patton offered. “Too bad you couldn’t join them, Virge! Next year, maybe?”

“I hope not,” Virgil muttered under his breath. Speaking up, he asked, “Uh, were y’all gonna order pizza?”

“Yes indeed, thank you for the reminder,” Logan said, picking up his phone. “What do we want?”

“Not pineapple,” Virgil and Roman said at the same time. They briefly made eye contact, small smiles flashing across their faces for a moment.

“But I love pineapple pizza,” Patton said, pouting.

Roman immediately relented, unable to resist Patton’s puppy-dog eyes. “Half with and half without, then?”

“Sounds adequate,” Logan said with a small smirk. “I’m sure one of these days, you’ll even follow through on your dire threats against those of us with better taste, Roman.”

Roman turned to his friend and stuck out a tongue. “No one asked you, Tech-It Ralph!”

Virgil pulled out his phone, making it clear he could occupy himself. He was still an outsider here, when the three of them were so close. Brief conversations with Logan aside, he was still one of the older brothers, not part of the group. As Logan got drafted into helping with props, he was left alone on the couch. And that was fine, and to be expected. He was only still here because food hadn’t arrived yet.

When the doorbell finally rang, Logan, the only one able to calculate a tip in his head, answered the door cordially and accepted the delicious-smelling box. He set it down in the kitchen, fixing Roman with a look from a full room away that made Roman sheepishly leave his crafts in the living room. Virgil grabbed a plate, ready to take a piece and vanish upstairs. But Patton had other plans. He patted the seat next to him with a smile.

“Sit here, Virge! I’ve got Roman on my right, I can be in a brother sandwich!”

“I was just gonna-”

“No buts except for the one you put in this seat!” Patton said, smiling brightly.

“It’s best to admit defeat now,” Logan commented drily, sitting across from Patton on Roman’s right. “Once he’s picked you as a target for affection, there’s no escape.”

Virgil conceded and sat. He grabbed a slice of pineapple-free pizza and folded it over, biting from the side. He looked up to see Logan staring.

“What?”

“I… it runs in the family, apparently.”

“What does?”

“That odd way you eat your pizza.”

Virgil looked across the table to see Roman holding his slice identically, while both Patton and Logan held the crust.

Roman blinked, then spoke loftily. “That’s because Virgil and I were raised with class, and eat our pizza in the proper manner.”

“Sorry, kiddo, I think you’re the odd ones out here!” Patton said with a giggle. “Both our families eat pizza like this and like pineapple.”

“Can you believe this?” Roman squawked indignantly.

 **“They’re monsters,”** Virgil said, shaking his head solemnly. He made eye contact with his younger brother, and tried out a small smile.

To his surprise and delight, Roman returned it. “They really are, brother mine.”

And, well. That wasn’t going to fix everything strained and tense in their family, wasn’t going to make them best of friends overnight.

But it was a start.


End file.
